Bomma Bomma thaa has been the ‘Nrtta Ganapati Song’ for long immortalized by legendary Bengaluru Ramani Ammal’s rendition. But the language and meaning of this rendition has been clouded in mystery. It seems to be sanskritized saurashtrian and here is the translation of it to the best of our abilities.
The essence seems to be this..
"Ganapati, just like dolls, sits everywhere for us to worship. Just invoking the name sweetens our tongue. Few hits on our temple increases our buddhi. Whispering few mantras at that time, reduces the evil thoughts/forces. Since his birth is lead by the music played by vishnu, narada etc, let’s play those instruments to make him dance to our tunes"
mahAperiyava says "The name pillai-yaar for Lord Ganesa comes from the fact that Ganesa is the ‘pillai’ of the first-couple of Unviverse, the Shiva-Shakti. When pillai is referred to reverentially, pillai becomes pillaiyaar. Ganapati needs no temple or puja and hence does not lead to differences in people due to his worship. He sits anywhere like a doll/bommai. As people pass through they hit their temples, do thoppukaranam and that’s his worship" - This is the same as the essence of the song.
There are 3 types of Natana/dance:
nritta - dancing to thAlam
nritya - dancing to thAlam along with abinayam
nAtyam - dancing to thAlam, abinayam with dialogues.
Ganapati dances to thAlam (nritta) always, because ganapati represents physical movement in all domains, work done in classical physics, action done by biological beings and thAlam in music. thAlam in music regulates the physical movement of swaras and hence represents movement in music.
Once gajasura prayed and got shiva in his stomach. Vishnu playing flute, nandi dancing to music enamored gajasura and wished Shiva to be released. Gajasura wanted to be born as son of Shiva in return for his death. When Shiva returned to his abode, he slayed his son (created by parvati) unknowingly, but got gajasura’s head leading to formation of ganapati. Since his birth is lead by the music played by vishnu, narada etc, let’s play those instruments to make him dance to our tunes, says the song.
bomma bomma thaa in tamil essence in english with mahaperiyava discourse
The essence seems to be this..
"Ganapati, just like dolls, sits everywhere for us to worship. Just invoking the name sweetens our tongue. Few hits on our temple increases our buddhi. Whispering few mantras at that time, reduces the evil thoughts/forces. Since his birth is lead by the music played by vishnu, narada etc, let’s play those instruments to make him dance to our tunes"
mahAperiyava says "The name pillai-yaar for Lord Ganesa comes from the fact that Ganesa is the ‘pillai’ of the first-couple of Unviverse, the Shiva-Shakti. When pillai is referred to reverentially, pillai becomes pillaiyaar. Ganapati needs no temple or puja and hence does not lead to differences in people due to his worship. He sits anywhere like a doll/bommai. As people pass through they hit their temples, do thoppukaranam and that’s his worship" - This is the same as the essence of the song.
There are 3 types of Natana/dance:
nritta - dancing to thAlam
nritya - dancing to thAlam along with abinayam
nAtyam - dancing to thAlam, abinayam with dialogues.
Ganapati dances to thAlam (nritta) always, because ganapati represents physical movement in all domains, work done in classical physics, action done by biological beings and thAlam in music. thAlam in music regulates the physical movement of swaras and hence represents movement in music.
Once gajasura prayed and got shiva in his stomach. Vishnu playing flute, nandi dancing to music enamored gajasura and wished Shiva to be released. Gajasura wanted to be born as son of Shiva in return for his death. When Shiva returned to his abode, he slayed his son (created by parvati) unknowingly, but got gajasura’s head leading to formation of ganapati. Since his birth is lead by the music played by vishnu, narada etc, let’s play those instruments to make him dance to our tunes, says the song.
bomma bomma thaa in tamil essence in english with mahaperiyava discourse
